Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a multinational
lifestyle retail corporation headquartered in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
.
Operating in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, select Western European countries, Poland, the United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait, and Qatar, the Urban Outfitters brand targets young adults with a merchandise mix of women's and men's fashion apparel, footwear, beauty and wellness products, accessories,
activewear and gear, and
housewares, as well as music, primarily
vinyl records and
cassettes.
The company was founded as the retail store
Free People by
Richard Hayne, Judy Wicks and Scott Belair in 1970 as a project for an entrepreneurship class at
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
.
It was renamed to Urban Outfitters and incorporated in 1976.
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) carries multiple stores within the URBN portfolio of brands, which also includes
Anthropologie,
Free People, Terrain,
BHLDN and the Vetri Family restaurant group. Much of the merchandise is designed and produced by the company's wholesale division on these multiple private labels.
Corporate history
In the 1970s, Dick Hayne opened a store and called it Free People in
West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the store eventually grew from one to two storefronts, the name was changed from Free People to Urban Outfitters.
In 2007, the company received the National Preservation Honor Award from the
National Trust for Historic Preservation for the Urban Outfitters Corporate Office Campus located on the
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
In 2011, it agreed to sell limited editions of
Polaroid ONE600 instant camera
An instant camera is a camera which uses instant film, self-developing film to create a chemically Photographic processing, developed print shortly after taking the picture. Polaroid Corporation pioneered (and Patent, patented) consumer-friend ...
s and Type 779
instant film in partnership with the Austrian entrepreneur Florian Kaps, who acquired the rights to manufacture 700 copies of the defunct product. In January 2013, it hired the Abraham & Roetzel lobbying firm, led by former Republican Sen.
Spencer Abraham, to advocate on its behalf in
Washington, D.C., regarding retail industry policy.
In Q4 2015, the company announced plans to acquire the Vetri Family, a Philadelphia restaurant group. As the company was facing declining same store sales and foot traffic, the acquisition illustrated the retailer's shift in strategy. This includes restaurants Amis Trattoria, Bar Amis, and Pizzeria Vetri. There are two Pizzeria Vetri locations in Philadelphia, with other locations in
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
King of Prussia (nicknamed K.O.P.) is a census-designated place in Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania, Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community took its unusual name in the 18th century from a loca ...
,
Devon, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
In 2019, the company drew attention by announcing the sale of used
VHS tapes for $40. In the same year, Urban Outfitters launched Nuuly, a subscription clothing rental service. Following that, the company launched Nuuly Thrift, a resale platform for buying and selling women's, men's and kids’ apparel and accessories from URBN labels and other brands.
As of 2020, Urban Outfitters does not publicly disclose which factories produce the brand's clothing.
It also has no human resources department.
[
In December 2022, Urban Outfitters announced the departure of its president, Francis Pierrel, from the company.
]
Criticism
Urban Outfitters' products have also been the subject of multiple complaints and criticism, largely from religious, ethical, and ethnic pressure groups including a local chapter of the NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
,
Labor practices
On November 27, 2009, URBN drew the attention of the Swedish press for denying collective bargaining rights to employees at their Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
store by making all 38 workers redundant and re-hiring them through employment agency
An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly funded employment agency.
Public employment agencies
One ...
Academic Work.[
In 2021, the company only received a score of 11-20% in the Fashion Transparency Index. There is also no evidence of Urban Outfitters ensuring the paying of living wages to their employees.]
References
External links
Commercial website
Corporate website
{{Authority control
Companies based in Philadelphia
Clothing retailers of the United States
Clothing brands of the United States
Retail companies established in 1970
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
1970 establishments in Pennsylvania
Cultural appropriation